dad or Dad, mum or Mum

My husband when reading through my book turns them into mum and dad no matter what the circumstances. I only do that when referring to a mum or a dad or mums and dads. When it is a specific person I captilise them.

Which is the correct usage? Could this be a UK/US difference because I seem to remember the class where you captilised familial relationships when they referred to a specific person. I am happy to be wrong lol but it feels wrong.

 

I was taught (here in the US) that you always capitalize them when you use the word as a specific person. Hope this helps.

 

In British English, you put a capital letter when you use it like a name:

'Come here quick, Mum!'

But no capital letter otherwise:

His dad was tall and skinny.

 

Thanks thats what I thought
cept now I have to go back through and put it back

 

Also true for US English.

 

"When referring to a specific person ..." Remember that 'my mum' refers a specific person but would not be capitalised. But "Mum told me I couldn't go," would be. The determining factor is if the identifier 'mum', 'dad' is used in place of a proper name. (Mum's name is Mary Dad's name is John but, instead of calling them Mary and John, you call them Mum and Dad.) So, when used as a proper name, the identifier should be capitalised, otherwise, it should not. This also holds true for other types of identifiers such as 'Sarge', 'Mr. President', or 'Nanny Grace'.

 

the simple rule is that when it's used as a name, it's capped... when used with 'his/her/my' and so on, it's not...

Mom and I went shopping

my mom and i went shopping

 

Because this is a capitalization question, and assuming the examples are meant to be complete sentences:

 

No one mentioned this, unless I missed it, but there's also the difference between the British "mum" and the American "mom".

 

That's because it's irrelevant to the discussion. It doesn't matter whether you call her Mom, or Mum or your mom, your mommy, or your mum, or that evil frosty queen bitch of Bitchburg. The question is one of capitalization, not word choice.

 

alright, nit-pickety one! ;-(

but i wasn't trying to show an entire sentence... was just demonstrating the way each of the 'mom's would be typed if in one... and that wouldn't change regardless of being a whole sentence or just a clause, so there! ;-)

hugs, m